Page 27 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

Guinness World Record Tank Pull
Like most great ideas in the Regiment they are discussed and decided over tea and toast in the WO’s and Sgt’s Mess. SSgt Brightey came up with the suggestion of whether it is possible to pull a Challenger 2 tank over a set distance! After a lot of naysaying and disbelief from some of the Mess members, it was decided to attempt some form of an event for a charity. 80 personnel would attempt to pull 62.5 Tonnes of a Challenger 2 Battle Tank and donate monies raised to Cancer Research UK and The Tiger Tank Memorial Fund. Local and National media including Sky, BBC and ITV all wanted in to witness and broadcast the attempt. It was seen to demonstrate quite a lot of interest with over 700,000 hits on the Army media exchange alone.
As the sun rose above the Tidworth Tank Park, the 80 soldiers prepped the tank and ropes as the convoy of cars and satellite vehicles arrived. To build the atmosphere Dreadnaught’s Recce Troop, pulled a Scimitar CVR (T) across the same distance in an impressive 1min 20secs. The scene was now set and the crowd ready for the main event.
62.5 tonnes
THE ROYAL TANK REGIMENT
SSgt (SSI) M J Brightey RAPTC
In true military fashion, the event began with some drill, with the soldiers being marched out by the Piper. Belts and berets removed, ropes pulled taught and hand break released and one big pull to try and get the huge load moving. The tank began moving at roughly the same speed that the rst tanks rolled out of the production line in Feb 1916, almost 100 years to the day. At the 50 meter point the scale of the effort began to sink in and cast doubt over the tankies efforts, but ‘with the thought of their fore fathers
in their minds’ they dug in and pulled it across the line to set a strong record that will be extremely hard to beat. Guinness has rati ed the pull as a new world record with an of cial time of 2 minutes 9 seconds. The whole event was a huge success for the Regiment and the wider RTR family, and has been the largest media event for the newly amalgamated Regiment. A total of £700 in donations was raised which has been split between the Tiger restoration Project on Slapton Sands and Cancer Research UK.
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Warming up
On the way to a new record
WATERLOO LINES – WARMINSTER GARRISON
SSGT (SSI) S Hughes RAPTC
Participants of the 10 Sufferest Challenge Newly Quali ed Level 1 Olympic Weightlifting Instructors